Puzzle over the heroine who wasn't

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The extraordinary fantasy life and lonely death of a New Zealand
woman hailed as a heroine after the July 7 bombings in London has
left a confused and contradictory trail over which former friends,
colleagues and the medical establishment are puzzling.

Police appear to have discounted rumours that Richmal
Oates-Whitehead, whose body was found 10 days ago in a west London
flat, committed suicide.

The British Medical Association held an investigation into how
she came to be employed but declined to reveal the outcome.

Ms Oates-Whitehead gained prominence in New Zealand amid media
coverage of the suicide bombing that destroyed the No. 30 bus in
Tavistock Square outside the headquarters of the association. She
worked there as editor of Clinical Evidence, an online
edition of BMJ, the British Medical Journal.

After the blast she appears to have joined medically trained
staff bringing first aid to survivors.

Her precise role remains uncertain. The 35-year-old always
carried a stethoscope in her handbag. She later told New Zealand's
Weekend Herald she had been helping the injured in a
makeshift hospital next door to the association when two
firefighters approached her for help.

"They needed one doctor to assist as firemen cut two badly
injured people out of the wreckage. Would she come? They would
understand if she declined," the article said.

It reported her as saying: "There was no room for hesitation - I
wasn't thinking at that level. It was the moral and ethical thing
to do." Her account included a controlled detonation of a second
bomb.

The problem was twofold. Police had no record of a controlled
explosion in Tavistock Square; moreover, she was not a doctor.

Coverage of the London bombings triggered suspicions. The
Auckland papers began inquiries. On August 15 The New Zealand
Herald published: "Doctor status of NZ bomb heroine
questioned." The story disclosed the association was investigating
her qualifications. Other papers published sceptical stories.

Their reports unearthed bizarre behaviour. Ms Oates-Whitehead
had claimed to be the victim of a stalker, had described herself as
a professor, told some friends she had cancer and others that she
had lost premature twins who lived for only a day. She even placed
a death notice in the NZ Herald: "Two beautiful girls,
Jemima Josephine and Molly Niamh … Taken away from Mummy and
Daddy too soon. Two more beautiful angels in heaven."

Challenged by the association, she resigned. On August 17,
alerted by concerns from her family, police went to her flat and
found her dead. Initial suspicions focused on the belief that,
faced with humiliation and the loss of her job, she might have
killed herself.

But a post-mortem found she died of a blood clot on the lungs.
The association declined to go beyond a brief statement: "It is
with great regret that the BMJ Publishing Group has heard of the
sudden death of Richmal Oates-Whitehead. Our thoughts are with
Richmal's family and friends. The BMJ will be making no further
comment."

In fact, she did have a medical background. She trained for a
year as a radiation therapist in 1991 and had a postgraduate
diploma in health service management. She also had epilepsy.

She had always dreamt of being a doctor, the New Zealand
Sunday Star-Times reported. It quoted an interview with a
Sydney forensic psychiatrist, Dr Anthony Samuels, who suggested she
might have suffered borderline personality disorder and posed as a
doctor to satisfy a psychological need.

"People with borderline personality disorders often get into
caring professions because they have so much need themselves and it
distracts them from their own pain."

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1125302508521-smh.com.auhttp://www.smh.com.au/news/world/puzzle-over-the-heroine-who-wasnt/2005/08/29/1125302508521.htmlsmh.com.auThe Guardian2005-08-30Puzzle over the heroine who wasn'tOwen Bowcott in London and Bernard O'RiordanWorld